The present invention generally relates to manufacturing, remanufacturing or repairing replaceable imaging components, and more particularly to apparatus and techniques for providing a charging roller for a replaceable imaging cartridge adapted for holding marking material.
In the imaging industry, there is a growing market for the remanufacture and refurbishing of various types of replaceable imaging cartridges such as toner cartridges, drum cartridges, inkjet cartridges, and the like. These imaging cartridges are used in imaging devices such as laser printers, xerographic copiers, inkjet printers, facsimile machines and the like, for example. Imaging cartridges, once spent, are unusable for their originally intended purpose. Without a refurbishing process these cartridges would simply be discarded, even though the cartridge itself may still have potential life. As a result, techniques have been developed specifically to address this issue. These processes may entail, for example, the disassembly of the various structures of the cartridge, replacing toner or ink, cleaning, adjusting or replacing any worn components and reassembling the imaging cartridge.
In imaging cartridges used in the electrophotographic process, a light sensitive material is selectively charged in the presence of light. This light sensitive material is typically in the form of an endless belt or in the shape of a cylinder of light sensitive material, such as a photographic drum or an organic photoconductive drum. The electric charge on a drum differentially attracts toner which is then used to form an image on paper or other media. After an image is formed and transferred to the media, it is necessary to erase the charge which was previously placed on the drum and replace the previous charge with a new uniform charge suitable for being reimaged. The charging roller may erase the previous charge and provides the new uniform charge. The charging roller rests against the drum and is provided with the necessary voltages. Charging rollers may be cylindrical in shape and include a metal shaft surrounded by a conductive foam or elastic material.